Introduction
Home food preservation can help make fruits, vegetables and and other foods last longer. After having your pressure gauge tested, visit one of the many Farmers Markets in our region and start preserving fresh food from local farms.
It is recommended that your dial gauge be tested before each canning year begins for accuracy. The dial gauge can be tested free of charge at the Yakima County Extension office. During COVID restrictions, please contact the office for appointment (509) 574-1576. Keep in mind it may take up to a week to be tested and returned.
Food Preservation Online Course-Under Construction
WSU Extension is developing a program to replace the previous “Preserve the Taste of Summer” Online course. Once information is available, it will be posted here.
Food Safety Questions
If you have a question about food safety or preservation, please call our office at 509-574-1600 and leave a message on the main line. Please note that you may not get an immediate response, but you will get a call back from one of our Master Food Preserver volunteers. You can also try the Benton/Franklin Master Food Preservers number at 509-735-3551.
Food Preservation & Food Safety Resources
WSU Consumer Food Safety Website- General Reference
C1117E – Food Preservation Resources
This 4-page brochure lists web and print resources for food safety and canning/food preservation.
National Center for Home Food Preservation
The National Center for Home Food Preservation is your source for current research-based recommendations for most methods of home food preservation. The Center was established with funding from the Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture (CSREES-USDA) to address food safety concerns for those who practice and teach home food preservation and processing methods.
Partnership for Food Safety Education
Comprehensive food safety website for food preparation and handling with the goal of reducing the risk of food-borne illness.
FDA Science and our Food Supply: Food Safety Reference Guide (PDF)
Becoming food safety savvy is as easy as A–B–C! Let your fingers do the walking through this user-friendly reference guide that offers you a wealth of invaluable, up-to-date food safety information.
Harvest, Cook, and Preserve – Rutgers New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station
General food preservation website with information on eating seasonally and food preparation and safety. Includes Family Fun Pages on different types of produce that can be used to learn nutrition facts, ways to prepare the produce, and preservation methods, when applicable.
- Canning
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Resources from the Benton/Franklin County Master Food Preserver
Understanding Processing Times for Home-Canned Foods
Canning is an exact science. Safety depends in using research based recipes, precise measurements of ingredients, clean work environments and exact timing when it comes to the processing procedures.
Canning in Electric Pressure Cookers
Electric Pressure Cookers are being advertised as an acceptable way to process home canned foods. Should I can in my electric pressure-cooker appliance?
A common question that arises during canning season is whether or not you can use a smooth cooktop for canning. Because of the variability in types of smooth cooktops, there is no simple answer. This fact sheet will help explain the issues and concerns with canning on a smooth cooktop.
WSU Resources
PNW421 – Using and Caring for Your Pressure Canner
Pressure canning is the only recommended method for canning meat, poultry, seafood, and vegetables because of the high temperature required to ensure against botulism poisoning. This publication describes canner types, safety features, maintenance needs, and provides step-by-step illustrated use instructions.
Canning can be a great way to get full benefit from your garden vegetables. When prepared properly, foods will retain their nutrients and flavor.
Pressure canning is the only recommended method for canning meat, poultry, seafood, and vegetables because of the high temperature required to ensure against botulism poisoning. This publication describes canner types, safety features, maintenance needs, and provides step-by-step illustrated use instructions.
This publication explains how to ensure both safety and quality when canning fresh fruits. Details covered include selecting and preparing equipment; preparing apples, apricots, berries, cherries, peaches, pears, and plums; sweetening fruit; processing methods; and storage.PNW300 – Canning Tomatoes & Tomato Products
PNW361 – Canning Meat, Poultry, and Game
PNW395 – Salsa Recipes for Canning
PNW450 – Home Canning Smoked Fish
Want to be able to savor the amazing flavors of the Pacific Northwest fishery at any time of the year? This concise guide details the reasons and procedures needed to produce safe and delicious smoked fish.
FS359E – Food Preservation for Special Diets: Adjusting Sugar and Sodium When Preserving at Home
Looking to cut back on sugar and salt? Love canning foods at home? Then this publication is meant for you!
Other Reference Material
USDA’s Complete Guide to Home Canning
Everything you need to know about canning and food preservation is available in USDA’s Complete Guide to Home Canning. This resource is for people canning for the first time or for experienced canners wanting to improve their canning practices. The information is based on research conducted by the National Center for Home Food Preservation in cooperation with USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA).
Tip sheet on safe canning practices.
National Center for Home Food Preservation: Canning
National Center for Home Food Preservation: Pickling
Includes recipes for fermenting, freezing, water bath canning, and pressure canning.
- Freezing
PNW214 – Freezing Fruits and Vegetables
PNW296 – Freezing Convenience Foods That You’ve Prepared at Home
Foods in the freezer — are they safe? Every year, thousands of callers to the USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline aren’t sure about the safety of items stored in their own home freezers. The confusion seems to be based on the fact that few people understand how freezing protects food. Here is some information on how to freeze food safely and how long to keep it.
- Jams, Jellies, & Spreads
EB1665 – Let’s Preserve Jellies, James, Spreads
Describes general procedures and processing times for pectin and pectin-free canning. Includes several popular fruit recipes and useful measurement and cooking time tables.
USDA Preparing and Canning Jams and Jellies (PDF)
National Center for Home Food Preservation: Jams and Jellies
- Drying
PNW397 – Drying Fruits and Vegetables
Whether for bringing the best of your garden to the winter table, backpacking light and healthy, or economical snacks, drying is made easy with this publication. Emphasizing modern dryers, creative alternative methods are explained. Topics include selection and preparation of foods, pretreatment, packaging, and storage. Additional features are drying charts for common fruits and vegetables, and recipes using dried foods.
Introduction to Food Dehydration – University of Missouri Extension
Dehydration is one of the oldest methods of food preservation, though methods for drying food have become sophisticated over time.
This guide covers different drying methods and the basic temperatures and conditions needed to safely dry food.
PNW632 – Making Jerky at Home Safely
Jerky is a nutritious, nonperishable, and lightweight protein source, but making it requires a lot of care. If done incorrectly, you can poison yourself or others. This publication shows you how to make this delicious treat safely at home, including the proper use of ovens or dehydrators and that of thermometers; how to accurately judge doneness; the preparation techniques needed when dehydrating different types of protein, including fish; and how to condition, package, and store your batches safely after they’re done. Illustrated, with a few recipes.
When raw meat or poultry is dehydrated at home — either in a warm oven or a food dehydrator — to make jerky which will be stored on the shelf, pathogenic bacteria are likely to survive the dry heat of a warm oven and especially the 130 to 140 °F of a food dehydrator. Included here is the scientific background behind drying food to make it safe and the safest procedure to follow when making homemade jerky.
- Curing, Smoking, & Fermenting
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Where there’s smoke, there’s well-flavored meat and poultry. Using a smoker is one method of imparting natural smoke flavor to large cuts of meat, whole poultry, and turkey breasts. This slow cooking technique keeps them tender, too.